Easel.



0. D. HARTWELL.

EASEL. APPLICATION FILED MAR-6.1911.

1 %36,?@& Patented Aug. 14 191?.

5 IN VENTOR.

A TTORNE YS.

' WITNESS EASEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 14, 191?.

Application filed March 6, 1917. Serial No. 152,714.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OscAR D. HARTWELL, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inEasels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to easels and particularly to foldable easels,such as may lie fiat against their attached face plates but are bendableinto a position to support the latter.

The invention has for its object to provide an easel of specificallyimproved construction as will appear in the following description and beparticularly'pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention, in an embodiment at present preferred, is shown forillustrative purposes m the accompanying drawings, in

Which- Figure 1 is a rear elevational view of the easel showing theparts in folded pos1t1on;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the easel showing the parts moved intosupporting position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectlonal View taken on the line 3-3 ofFlg. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, show ng the invention as applied toa double wing easel;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the easel.

shown in Fig. 4, with the parts moved into supporting position; and vFig. 6 is a cross sectlonal view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Referring to these drawings 1n detail and particularly to Figs. 1, 2,and 3, reference 10 indicates the face plate to be supported, which maybe of any desirable shape. The easel comprises a substantiallyrectangular strip or web portion 11 and a substantially triangular wingportion 12. The portions 11 and 12 are formed from a single piece ofsuitable material, sifich as 1gzarfiibgl'ard,lfp r elxm le thewin 12 einen a erealvey a p g the doed line 13, Preferably, the ease is scoredalong line 13 to facilitate bending. The web 11 may be secured to theback of face plate 10 by any suitable means, such as glue, cement, orthe like, for example.- The w ng 12 is adapted to be bent along line 13into substantially normal relation with the web, as shown in Fig. 2, tosupport the face plate.

' tance from the letter.

In order to hold the wing 12 in supporting position, a holding member isprovided. The holding member in its relation to the web and wing is newand comprises the principal feature of my invention. This membercomprises a tab 14 which is formed preferably in the shape shown in Fig.1 by cutting from web.12 except for a line of fold 15. Line 15 isarranged transversely with relation to line 13 and also terminates at adis- The line of fold 15 is furthermore disposed intermediate the endsof tab 14 so as to form portions 16 and 17, which, when tab 14 is bentalong line 15 into substantially normal relation with wing 12 and web11, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, may be positioned on opposite sides ofwing 12. The portion 16 has an edge '18 formed by cutting along the lineof fold 13, which edge is adapted to abut the rear face of the webportion 11 when tab 14 is moved into holding position. The edge 18terminates with a slight inward protuberance or button 19 which as thetab 14 is moved into the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is compressedagainst web 11, and thereby holds tab 14 in its moved position byitsfrictional engagement with the web. The portion 17 has an edge 20 whichis parallel with ed e 18 but is offset therefrom a distance eqn 1 to thethickness of the web, thereby permitting the edge 20 to exactly abut therear of face plate 10 when the tab is swung to holding position. The twoedges 18 and 20 intersect with a short shoulder 21 which is adapted toabut the cut edge 22 (Fig. 2) of web 11 to act as a stop to limit thebending movement of tab 14.

It will thus be seen that, when the tab is moved to the position shownin Figs. 2 and 3, the wing 12 is braced from both sides and iseffectively held in supporting position against movement in eitherdirection. Fur-- thermore, the tab 14 is limited in its degree ofbending movement by the abutment of shoulder 21 with surface 22 and thetab is furthermore held in position by the fric tional engagement ofbutton 19 with the web 11. The eflicient manner in which tab 14 holdswing 12 in the desired position forms one of the principal results of myinvention.

It is frequently necessary, when relatively large face plates ar'eto besupported, toprovide more than one supporting wing, and it is desirableto provide means for holding the additional wing or wings. Commonly, adouble wing easel is formed, as shown in Fig. 4, by providing anotherwing 23 on the web 11 which wing is foldable along a line 2 1 intonormal relation with the web. Where the wings 12 and 23 are spaced onefrom another a sufiicient distance, I may provide in the wing 23 anothertab which is a counterpart of the described tab 1a. I prefer, however,to provide means to hold both wings in supporting position at a singleoperation for convenience in use. Referring to Figs. 4;, 5, and 6, thisobject is accomplished by forming a tab 14' from wing 12 in a mannersimilar to that already described except-that an extension 25 is formedon the portion 16. The wing 23 has an opening 26 formed therein which,when wings 12 and 23 are bent into normal relationwith web 11, permitsthe extension 25 to .pass therethrough. A slot 27 is formed in thelatter, which, as best shown in Fig. 6, is arranged to straddle wing 23and hold it against movement in either direction.

It will be noted that the easel is adapted for low cost of manufacturesince it may be formed from a single piece of stock by simple cuttingand folding operations. The several cuts necessary for the formation ofthe easel as well as the lines of scoring 13 and 15 may readilybeaccomplished at one operation by a suitable die. An important feature ofthe construction is that the hold- A ing tab is formed entirely from thewing of with a single sweep of the brush, cover the entire web with glueor the like. The extreme care necessary in applying glue to a web, whereout out portions are prevalent, is avoided with the describedconstruction, and consequently the work may be rapidly accomplished.

The easel, structurally, is of advantageous simplicity and is simple tooperate. It is necessary merely to bend the wing or wings at rightangles to the web and thereafter by bending the tab 14 along line 15,the portions 16 and 17 are swung downwardly and upwardly respectively,into such positions that the wing or wings are effectively braced onboth sides and are positively held against movement in either direction.Furthermore,

the proper position of the tab 14 is indicated to the user by theabutment of shoulder 21 with surface 22 and when so positioned, the tabis held in position by the button 19.

The invention has been described in a preferred form for illustrativepurposes, but the scope of the invention is defined by the one portionformed as a continuous strip forapplication to a face plate to be heldupright, a second portion adapted to be bentat right angles to the firstportion for supporting purposes, and a third portion cut from the secondportion and adapted to be bent intermediate its ends at right angles tothe latterand to the first portion, along a line spaced from the firstportion, and in such bent position having one extension to bear againstthe first portion on one side of the second portion and anotherextension to bear against the face plate on the other side of the secondportion, all for the purpose described.

2. An easel, comprising in combination, a web portion adapted forattachment to a face plate, a wing portion normally disposed in theplane of the web portion but adapted to be bent into substantiallynormal relation with the web to support the latter, and a holding memberdisposed in the plane of the wing portion and adapted, when the wing ismoved to supporting position,to be bent into substantially normalrelation with the wing, said member bein connected with the Wing toswing along a e which is intermediate the ends of the said member andterminates at a distance from the web, whereby the member may be sopositioned that parts thereof lie on opposite sides of the wing, saidmember being formed with surfaces adapted to engage the rear face of theweb and the rear face of the face plate, respectively, when the memberis moved into substantially normal relation with the Wing, whereby thelatter may be braced from both sides and movement in either directionprevented.

3. An easel, comprising in combination, a web portion adapted forattachment to a face plate, a wing portion disposed in the plane of theweb portion and adapted to bebent into substantially normalrelation withthe Web to support the latter, and a holding member disposed in theplane of the wing portion and adapted,when the wing is moved tosupporting'position, tobe bent nto substantially "normal ,relation withthe wing, said'member'being'connected with the wing to bendIfaldng alinewhich'is intermediate the endsof the member and terminates at adistance from the web, whereby the member may be so positioned thatparts thereof lie on opposite sides of the wing, said member formed withsurfaces adapted to engage the rear face of. the web and the rear faceof the face plate, respect'vely, when the member is moved into subantially normal relation with the wing, whereby the latter may be bracedfrom both sides and movement in appended claims rather than by theforegoeither direction prevented, and means to ing description.

hold said member in position.

4. An easel, comprising in combination, a web portion adapted forattachment to a face plate, a wing portion on each side of the webportion disposed in the same plane with the latter but adapted to bebent into substantially normal relation therewith to support the faceplate, and a holding member connected with one wing portion to swingalong a line which is intermediate its ends and which terminates at adistance from the web portion, and shoulders in the other wing portionto cooperate with the holding member, said member being disposed 1n theplane of its wing portion but adapted to be bent into substantiallynormal relation therewith to brace the wing portion, whereby the membermay be so positioned that parts thereof lie on opposite sides of itswing, said member formed with surfaces adapted to engage the rear of theweb and the rear of the face plate respectively, when the member ismoved into substantially normal relation with its wing, whereby thelatter is braced upon both sides, and an extension on said member havinga slot to straddle the other wing member against said shoulders when thelatter is bent into supportin position, whereby both wings may be heldrom movement in either direction by said holding member.

OSCAR D. HARTWELL.

